WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE Years 1981 - 1984

I had the great pleasure to work with one of the premier theatrical companies in the country in the early 1980's  THE WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE  which had been founded in 1949  and was still being led by it's Artistic Director  MARY JANE TEALL,  a Legend in Regional Theatre.

Over the next several posts I am going to document my time with this extraordinary troupe. I served as Scenic Designer from 1981 through 1984 and also designed Costumes, performed as an Actor and even Directed a show in the Workshop Auditorium pictured above.

The newspaper photo at the top accompanied an article about our Director at the time we were performing the play  YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU  in 1981 ( the smiling lad in white tux and black bowtie second to her right is...yes...ME! )

The bottom photo is the WCT Workshop Building today, although it looks much as I remember it from 30 years ago.

The Original Building was built in 1932 as the Temple Emanu-El of Wichita, the first Progressive Hebrew Temple in the Midwest which was founded in 1885. When they built their current Temple in 1961,  MARY JANE TEALL  brokered an offer to purchase ( for CASH!) this building which was initially used to house the Theatre's Offices,  Box Office,  Rehearsal Hall  & Storage. In time it also became the Performance venue for COMMEDIA, a summer comedy revue which satirized both local and national events in songs and sketches. This was used as a way to raise funds for the Main Stage Seasons in Fall & Winter.

I first became aware of WCT when I attended one of these revues and was introduced to the venerable Ms. TEALL...we worked closely together for the next 3 years and She influenced my life and career in the same way she had countless others during her amazing life.